The Aftermath
by Stripysockz
Summary: While camped for the night on the way back to Camelot, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen have an interesting talk. Set after The Moment of Truth.


The Aftermath

Summary: While camped for the night on the way back to Camelot, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen have an interesting talk. Set after The Moment of Truth. Unbeta-ed.

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On the way back to Camelot, they stopped for the night to camp in a sheltered clearing beside a stream. None of them had spoken until now – there had been nothing to say. Merlin was still overcome with grief at losing his oldest, and closest friend. However, the previous two sleepless nights of indecision brought exhaustion crashing down on him, and he succumbed to sleep before the others, snoring gently.

The other three weren't quite as tired, and stayed sitting around the campfire for a while longer. Somehow, conversation didn't seem as awkward now.

"You know, Gwen," Arthur began casually, as he leaned back slightly, "sometimes it almost seems like you're Morgana's best friend, not her maid." Seeing the look on both their faces, he hastily added, "I don't mean that in a bad way, I just noticed. Most servants are terrified to speak their minds, you know?"

Morgana immediately responded, "Well, Merlin is certainly just as good a friend to you – and I don't think I've ever seen him terrified to speak his mind. Slightly scared to, perhaps, but even then only around Uther."

Gwen added quietly, "I consider myself both a maid and a friend to Morgana, if that's not presumptuous to say."

"Of course not," Morgana assured her. "I consider you to be my friend too. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the three of you here are my closest friends."

Arthur was silent for a moment as he pondered what the girls had said. Somehow, he'd never fully realised how much Merlin meant to him – but while he didn't really know Gwen very well, he would certainly consider Merlin and Morgana to be his closest friends, now he thought about it. He didn't know what he'd do without them – he trusted them more than even his knights, who tended to be sparring partners and not a lot else; and his relationship with his father certainly wasn't easy. He could see Gwen perhaps becoming a close friend too, in the future, as she was easy to get along with, and even had had the courage to stand up to him, which was rare.

"It must be awful for Merlin, losing his friend like that," murmured Gwen. Morgana nodded slowly in agreement.

"The sorcerer," said Arthur. It was odd to think that Merlin had known a sorcerer – but then again, he'd been acting so oddly all the time they were there. Now that he thought about it, this must have been the reason for his confidence – he had known his friend could help if things went drastically wrong. It also explained why the man – what was his name? Will? – had never taken part in combat training – he had known he would never need it. Maybe Merlin had fabricated the entire story about his father's death to protect his friend's secret, out of loyalty. Maybe the story was actually true, and another motive for the man, and Merlin had used it as a distraction from the underlying crux of the matter.

Arthur was now analyzing everything he could remember from the past few days, from this new viewpoint. The girls had also fallen silent, and were both staring into the depths of the fire, so he could continue his musings uninterrupted.

He was remembering the he'd had with Merlin just before Kanan arrived – when Merlin had tried to tell him of Will's powers. He frowned, remembering one line of that conversation in particular – "Whatever happens out there today, please don't think any differently of me." Honestly, Merlin could be so paranoid sometimes; while he was annoyed he hadn't told him sooner, it wasn't like he was guilty by association or anything like that.

His frown deepened when he remembered that Merlin had been about to say something before Kanan tried to shoot him – had he been about to pretend he was the sorcerer, to protect Will? It would be so like Merlin, trying to take the blame for someone else's crime in an act of misplaced loyalty. It wouldn't be the first time either – he'd also pretended he was the one practising magic when Gwen had been wrongly accused of witchcraft.

Odd. But, that was Merlin. A loyal, overprotective, odd fool. Arthur was about to push the conclusion he'd already known to the back of his mind, when another memory of the previous day came to mind. It was an inconsequential thing, but there was no explanation for it. Why had Merlin dashed off as soon as he realised Morgana wasn't lighting the fire?

"Morgana-"Arthur began slowly. Morgana and Gwen both looked up, jolted out of their respective reveries. "What exactly happened with the fire? There was a delay, and then suddenly it was everywhere." He frowned again, realising the truth of the words as he spoke them – he hadn't noticed, focused as he was on the coming fight, but the fire really had appeared everywhere at once – that wasn't natural. Had Will cast another spell?

"The fire wasn't catching," replied Morgana, her eyes focused on the memory only she could see. "I couldn't get a spark; I knew it was only a matter of time before it all went wrong. I kept trying to light it, and then suddenly, Merlin was there. He grabbed the stones and pushed me back, and tried to light it." Her eyes narrowed, then widened, and she stared, startled, at Arthur, as she realised in hindsight what she had missed at the time. "After a few seconds, it hadn't caught. I didn't notice at the time, I was panicking; but I think he muttered something. Then the fire was everywhere," she finished in a low whisper. Silence descended upon the camp again – none of them knew what to say.

After a moment, Gwen spoke. "No," she said, shaking her head. "Will was the sorcerer, he admitted it!"

Morgana and Arthur looked at each other. "He was dying, Gwen," said Morgana. "He knew they would both be killed if Merlin confessed, so he took the blame, knowing he would die anyway."

Arthur was silent again – the pieces were falling into place. Of course, this was why Merlin was worried about himself before the battle – it had nothing to do with Will, though Will had probably known his secret. Merlin had always been strange, after all. This explained a lot of things he'd never thought to question before.

"What do we do?" asked Gwen – she was almost in tears. "We can't hand him over to Uther, he'll be killed! Has he really done anything wrong? He saved all our lives!" Arthur guessed she was on the verge of hysteria, and quickly spoke to calm her down.

"No, we won't tell Uther," he said, knowing that if he did, it would tear him apart to lose his closest friend. "We'll keep his secret. We owe it to him. Who knows how many times he's saved all our lives?"

"Thank you," breathed Gwen, as Morgana nodded in approval. Gwen knew that it was Arthur's opinion on the issue that mattered the most – if he had decided to reveal Merlin's true identity, there was practically nothing either of the girls could do to stop him.

"Should we tell him we know?" asked Morgana. "After all, we can't prove anything, he'll just deny it. And he might not like the idea of us knowing his secret – it might make him paranoid. I think we should just keep this to ourselves." Arthur could see the sense in her words, but at the same time, a part of him desperately wanted to confront his manservant, to demand the truth, to know why Merlin had lied to him all this time. But though he didn't want to face it, he knew the answer to the last part – Merlin hadn't known whether or not his secret would have been safe with him. After all, it probably wouldn't have been until very recently. And there was no real sense in an unnecessary confrontation. So with a sigh, he agreed with Morgana.

"Fine. We'll just act like none of us figured anything out. Now, let's get some rest. I'm sure my father will be waiting for us to return tomorrow, and it won't be with open arms. We'll need the strength to face him." Morgana grinned at that, though Gwen looked rather worried. Arthur noticed this, and added, "Don't worry; he'll be a lot angrier with me than anyone else. Merlin was allowed to go, and I daresay he didn't even notice you were gone. Morgana and I are quite capable of standing up to him, I assure you."

She relaxed, and all three lay down, still unaware of just how great an impact the sorcerer in their midst had had, and would continue to have, on their lives.

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A/N: I'm not sure if I'm happy with it or not... reviews please, but be nice, it's my first Merlin fanfic, and my first fanfic at all for quite a while!


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